Don’t let your thoughts run away with you, don’t start planning to bail out because you’re worried about the future and how much you can take. Don’t look ahead to the pain. Just get through the day. ~ Marcus Luttrell
toughness
Fearlessly Face Today
We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us. ~ Charles Bukowski
Today’s Quote: Don’t Fear the Unknown
How can you know what you’re capable of if you don’t embrace the unkown? ~ Esmeralda Santiago
Today’s Poem: Doors of Daring by Henry Van Dyke
Doors of Daring
Henry Van Dyke
The mountains that enfold the vale
With walls of granite, steep and high,
Invite the fearless foot to scale
Their stairway toward the sky.
The restless, deep, dividing sea
That flows and foams from shore to shore,
Calls to its sunburned chivalry,
“Push out, set sail, explore!”
And all the bars at which we fret,
That seem to prison and control,
Are but the doors of daring, set
Ajar before the soul.
Say not, “Too poor,” but freely give;
Sigh not, “Too weak,” but boldly try,
You never can begin to live
Until you dare to die.
Today’s Poem: Courage by George Chapman
Courage
George Chapman
Give me a spirit that on this life’s rough sea
Loves to have his sails filled with a lusty wind
Even till his sailyards tremble, his masts crack,
And his rapt ship runs on her side so low
That she drinks water, and her keel ploughs air;
There is no danger to a man that knows
What life and death is, – there is no law
Exceeds his knowledge: neither is it lawful
That he should stoop to any other law.
Today’s Poem: Life Doesn’t Fighten Me by Maya Angelou
Life Doesn’t Frighten Me
Maya Angelou
Shadows on the wall
Noises down the hall
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Bad dogs barking loud
Big ghosts in a cloud
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Mean old Mother Goose
Lions on the loose
They don’t frighten me at all
Dragons breathing flame
On my counterpane
That doesn’t frighten me at all.
I go boo
Make them shoo
I make fun
Way they run
I won’t cry
So they fly
I just smile
They go wild
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Tough guys fight
All alone at night
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Panthers in the park
Strangers in the dark
No, they don’t frighten me at all.
That new classroom where
Boys all pull my hair
(Kissy little girls
With their hair in curls)
They don’t frighten me at all.
Don’t show me frogs and snakes
And listen for my scream,
If I’m afraid at all
It’s only in my dreams.
I’ve got a magic charm
That I keep up my sleeve
I can walk the ocean floor
And never have to breathe.
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Not at all
Not at all.
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Thinking Out Loud: Rise Up and Take on the Challenges
“The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
NOTE: Have you ever failed? I have and combined we don’t have enough toes and fingers to count the ways I’ve failed. It happens. Failure only stops us if we give it power over us. Failure only stops us if we give in to despair and hopelessness. When life throws you a challenge in 2024, don’t give up. If you’re knocked to your knees, rise up. Let the challenges you’ll face in 2024 know they better be ready for a fight and you won’t back down.
Inspiring Quote for Today ~ Keep Going, Don’t Look Back, Never Quit
“Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way.”
